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The multi - talentedLau Kar - Leungwas not only an actor , struggle choreographer , and conductor of multiple hit Hong Kong kung fu motion picture , he was also a soldierlike arts instructor who trained some of the genre ’s biggest stars in the southern Hung Gar discipline . Lau get his career in the 1960s choreographing fight sequences at thelegendary Shaw Brothers martial artistic production studio , where he was the primary collaborator of director Chang Cheh . He became the first ever fight choreographer to transition to directing , craft films that were less bally and machismo than much of Cheh ’s works , and focused more on kung fu as a practice not only of the trunk but also of the mind and tone .
To say that Lau lived and emit martial art would be a gross understatement . His love for kung fu is unmistakable in every picture he made , especially when viewing the arresting performance of his actors . His precept elan was often intense and strict , and not every performing artist could hack on it , making him very much a grandmaster in this respect . Those that Lau in person mould into the fighters we see on sieve are not only histrion on a film exercise set , they are his student , and their strict training under Lau render through in every single anatomy .
5Mark Houghton
The White Tiger Of Kung Fu
One of the most popular white actor in kung fu picture palace history , English - born Hong Kong transplanting Mark Houghton ( known as Ho - Mak in China ) start study under Lau Kar - Leung in 1989 . He appear in the Lau filmsMad Mission V : The Terracotta Hit , Tiger on the Beat 2 , andDrunken Master IIstarring Jackie Chan , as well as numerous other titles . In 2005 , with the boon of Lau , Houghton reach the Lau Family Hung Kuen School in Fanling , where he is still the grandmaster , teaching Lau ’s specialized Hung Gar technique .
Asked byKung Fu Kingdomwhat it was like working with Lau , Houghton stated :
“ … he was very , very demanding . That Sifu character you see in the movies , he ’d weary that accurate same visage in real lifeas you ’d see when he ’d be teaching on pic . It was actually his real biography grapheme … So , when he ’d be working on a picture , he ’d be very , very , elusive on people . He was 100 % like that on everybody . But once the flick work was done then he ’d show his jokey side , he ’d sit and jocularity and dissipate around with you too . ”
4Hsiao Ho
The Rebellious Young Man
Hsiao Ho ( also make out as Hsiao Hou ) appear in legion films lead by Lau Kar - Leung , includingDisciples of the thirty-sixth Chamber , My Young Auntie , Cat Vs . Rat , Legendary Weapons of China , andMad Monkey Kung Fu , in which Hsiao had his breakout role opposite Lau . Hsiao began learn Hung Gar under Lau sometime after appearing inMad Monkey Kung Fu . As he was very young at the time , Lau often cast Hsiao as the disaffected unseasoned man .
Hsiao also enjoyed long careers as a stuntman and action music director on several films predominantly released in the nineties . He also appear in the 1993 movieIron Monkeyplaying the “ disfigured swordsman . ” His last cinema persona was in 2004’sOne Night in Mongkok , in which he appeared in the first 10 minutes of the movie . Not much is known about Hsiao ’s whereabouts now .
3Kara Hui
Lau Kar-Leung’s Favorite Leading Lady
Often described as Lau Kar - Leung ’s favorite contribute gentlewoman , Kara Hui ( also known as Kara Wai ) star in some of Lau ’s most popular films , in particularMy Young Auntie , Lady is the Boss , andThe Eight Diagram Pole Fighter . Hui state ( viaYouTube ) that Lau cast her in their first project together , Dirty Ho , after the original booster cable actress bowed out of the product , feelingthe arduous scrap sequences were too unmanageable and painful . Hui , who was an extra on the plastic film , was bumped up to the steer after Lau remembered find out her tryout footage forThe Brave Archer , another Shaw Brothers production from 1977 .
Lau Kar - leung is highly influential in the martial arts world and Hong Kong movie theatre , having directed a handful of awe - inspiring kung fu cinema .
Hui also states that Lau allow her to style her own fight view , which bring a elegant femininity to the choreography . She believes her grooming in dance and Northern - work combat style compliment rather than clashed with Lau ’s Southern feeler to kung fu .
2Alexander Fu Sheng
A Young Star Taken Too Soon
Alexander Fu Sheng might not be as braggy of a name as Bruce Lee , but his popularity among fans of Hong Kong kung fu cinema is just as fervent . Fu Sheng ’s life history was also tragically cut short at a young historic period — he was just 28 when he die in a car accident . In plus to training in the Hung Gar vogue under Lau Kar - Leung , Fu Sheng was a protegé of prolific Shaw Brothers theatre director Chang Cheh .
Because he passed away before filming could be complete , Fu Sheng ’s character is missing from the celluloid ’s climactic fight .
Alexander Fu Sheng ’s kung fu filmswith Lau includeCat Vs . Rat , Legendary Weapons of China , andThe Eight Diagram Pole Fighter , which would prove to be Fu Sheng ’s final screen appearing . Because he passed away before filming could be completed , Fu Sheng ’s character is lose from the film ’s climactic conflict .
1Gordon Liu
An Ideal Actor/Director Pair
Perhaps best known to American audiences for play two roles in Quentin Tarantino’sKill Billfilms — the leader of the sick 88s inVol . 1and warriorlike arts master Pai Mei inVol . 2 — Gordon Liu catch his big prison-breaking in 1978 playing the Shaolin hero San Te in Lau Kar - Leung’sThe thirty-sixth Chamber of Shaolin . Liu played a dissimilar role in the film ’s loose sequelReturn of the thirty-sixth Chamber , but generate to portray San Te again in the third moving-picture show in the trilogy , Disciples of the 36th Chamber .
Liu begin studying martial art at a very untried age , often skipping school to do so ( viaGordon Liu ) . This passion for kung fu eventually direct him to discipline in the Hung Gar discipline under Lau Cham , Lau Kar - Leung ’s Fatherhood . Liu and Lau Kar - Leung would join forces on numerous films : in addition to the36th Chambertrilogy , the pair madeHeroes of the East , Dirty Ho , The Lady is the Boss , My Young Auntie , Legendary Weapons of China , andThe Eight Diagram Pole Fighter . They are the Hong Kong kung fu edition of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro .
Shaw Brothers Studio
